


you're safe with me

by orphan_account



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Light Angst, M/M, Mutual Pining, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-26
Updated: 2018-01-26
Packaged: 2019-03-09 16:47:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13485666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Soonyoung and Wonwoo keeps on running away from each other. A three-day and two-night trip to Busan forces them to stop running and to face their feelings instead.





	you're safe with me

**Author's Note:**

> • title from Sam Kim, Kwon Jin Ah, Jung Seung Hwan, and Lee Jin Ah's "[Your Song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDZIKe7O_7w)"
> 
> • I have never been to Busan... so please take the visual description with a grain of salt, thank you! ^^;
> 
> • everyone has the same age in the fic.

 

 

 

Wonwoo sat down with a huff, quickly placing his duffel bag underneath him before inclining on his seat with his eyes closed. He feels a presence quickly approaching near him as he hears a giggle before someone takes up a seat beside him. He opens his eyes and quickly rolls them upon finding out who sat beside him.

“Is this seat taken?” Chan wiggles his eyebrows at him, a big smile plastered on his face.

“No shit.”

Chan laughs out loud, and Wonwoo would have covered his face in embarrassment if he wasn't laughing himself. A quick glance to their right gives Wonwoo the view of a backside that stretches upward to put his bag on the compartment above him.

A grunt was heard as Chan tsks at Soonyoung who plopped down on his seat, an aisle away from them. “Well hello there grandpa, do you need any help?”

Soonyoung flips them a finger with a cheeky smile as he sat down on his chair, breathing in deeply. “Tired?” Wonwoo asks, a small smile on his face. Soonyoung just shrugs, as Chan in between them continues to fumble with his bag. “Not really? But the prospect of 5 hours of bus travel gets me tired already just from thinking of it.”

“I know!” Chan says as he successfully finishes fumbling with his things before stuffing the bag underneath his chair. “If we could have afforded it we would have boarded the KTX or an airplane and would've arrived there in 3 hours but no~” Chan exclaims, prolonging his last word while rolling his at Wonwoo. He would've socked Chan on the face it he didn't know that he was only joking.

“Yeah yeah,” Wonwoo says with a joking sigh. “It was my cheapass that saved us all from spending almost 85,000KRW for a one-way trip via KTX to Busan.”

Soonyoung shakes his head at them both as he inclines on his seat to stare at the window beside him. “Well, I have the money—”

“Yeah we know rich kid.” Wonwoo snorts as Soonyoung rolls his eyes.

“but Channie here doesn't. So if anything, we're doing his bank account a favor."

Chan fake gasps at Soonyoung’s words as both of his friends chuckle at his reaction. “I can't believe this! The audacity!” Chan exclaims. “I was the one who planned this trip after many months of us three not being able to spend time with each other and this happens?! I cannot believe the both of you!”

Both Soonyoung and Wonwoo shake their heads at Chan's exclamation, a smile on their face as they know that he was clearly joking, trying to act out his faux anger with a pout on his face.

“You know us Chan.” Soonyoung says. “We're busy people.”

Chan snorts at this. “More like Wonwoo's the busy one. Heck, we're all studying and working at the same time but he's the only one who practically has zero time for us.” Chan says with a sad pout on his face. “What's got you busy Wonwoo?”

“Yeah Wonwoo, what's got you busy?”

Wonwoo stares at his friends, a small smile etched on his face. He tries staring at Chan's expecting face instead, resisting to look at Soonyoung's. He knows that once he looks at him, the façade he had worked so hard to build will crumble in pieces.

“Yeah, I wonder what.” Wonwoo says as the intercom inside the bus turns on, announcing to everyone that the bus for Busan will be leaving in 10 minutes, so passengers should take a seat already for the ride.

Wonwoo buckles up, closes his eyes, and tries to relax. _This trip is going to be interesting._

 

/

 

“Are you sure where we are Chan?” Chan huffs, clearly irritated at the question even if obvious embarrassment is already flushing into his red face. “I'm sure! It's just around here somewhere!”

“Yeah sure, let's trust Chan with our lives.”

“Is that a joke Kwon Soonyoung or I will literally choke you to death.”

“Oh boohoo Lee Chan.”

The banter continues as Wonwoo rolls his eyes at his friends who walk ahead of him, heads focused on the maps opened on their phones as their mouth continues to bicker off. If this was his fate on the week off that his boss on the coffee shop where he's taking his part-time job has given him, then Wonwoo will gladly leave all the bags that he's heaving and will drag himself back to Seoul. He doesn't need this extra stress.

“I told you Soonyoung, we didn't go down a stop early! We're already near!”

“Why do we keep walking though? It's been 15minutes Chan!”

Wonwoo sighs, contemplating on how he should break up his friends’ fight in case things get serious, although it never does. Everything between the friendship of the three of them is friendly banter, with lots of sarcasm and witty inside jokes that only they can understand.

Wonwoo thinks that sarcasm is probably the way how Chan got him to agree to the trip, with the words _yeah sure be a boring kid and continue working all your life without us_ being said to him while he was on his break. He remembers drinking a nice green tea latte, a smug smile etched on Chan's face as Wonwoo deadpans at him.

“Really now, Chan?”

“Yeah, you're such a boring kid, how many months has it been since we properly went out?” He crinkles his nose.

“Almost a year, maybe.” Wonwoo internally cringes at his answer, knowing how bad it sounds. He was obviously ignoring and hiding from his friends, but can he ever say that face to face?

“Soonyoung's gonna be there too.”

“… So?”

Chan rolls his eyes, and Wonwoo resists the urge to sigh. If Chan will insist, he has no choice but to agree with the trip.

“Both you and Soonyoung are dummies. This is why you guys are so boring and still aren't officially dating after years of pining after the other.”

“What?”

“I said, we're here!” Soonyoung exclaims, effectively pulling Wonwoo back to the present situation. He focuses his eyes towards the quaint little beach house that they have acquired for their stay in Busan. Standing tall and proud at the other side of the road, it already looks beautiful from the outside, with the clear view of Haeundae beach visible at the back. Wonwoo drops their bags that he was carrying, staring at the house in awe.

“Chan my friend,” Soonyoung starts, putting a hand on Chan's shoulder. “You have done a job well done.”

“Wow gee, thanks. Let's just all forget how you whined my ear off at how long the walk was from the bus stop, blahblahblah.”

“Well, can you fool me?” Soonyoung says as he starts to walk backwards towards the house. “You know how lazy I am in walking. These thighs aren't made for walking, only for dan—”

“Soonyoung watch out!”

Wonwoo whips a hand to pull Soonyoung to safety, his right hand holding a tight grip on Soonyoung's left as his other hand rests on Soonyoung’s upper back, completely caging him in his arms.

“Asshole!” Wonwoo shouts at the truck that quickly passed them by, breathing deeply both in fear and anger. “Are you crazy Soonyoung? You almost got yourself killed!” He shouts, hands holding onto Soonyoung's arms in tight grip. “What would have happened if I didn't pull you back, huh?!”

It took Wonwoo a while to register that Soonyoung was completely frozen in place, eyes locked at Wonwoo's chest, clearly avoiding staring in his eyes. In his hysterics, Wonwoo missed Soonyoung's eyes flickering not in fear of what happened, but in fear of Wonwoo's concern for him.

“Hey, are you okay Soonyoung?” Chan approaches, eyes wide in shock at what happened. Soonyoung softly pushes Wonwoo's arms away from him, breathing in deeply before putting a smile on his face. “I'm okay.” He says to Chan, before facing Wonwoo who was still sporting a frown on his face. “I'm… sorry Won. It won't happen again.

Wonwoo scoffs, but his expressions betray him as his face openly says that he's just relieved that Soonyoung is okay. “What would you be without me.” He scoffs out, as Chan laughs out loud while looping an arm around Soonyoung.

“An idiot, probably, yep.” He says as he walks towards the house with Soonyoung in tow, this time extra careful of speeding vehicles that may come along their way.

“Yeah, an idiot.”

 

/

 

Getting settled in was easy. The beautiful beach house was a small two-story wonder with white walls, wooden floors and with simple necessities placed strategically around the place. The first floor was an open area with a single enclosed room situated at the right back side of the house, presumably used as an access for the people to enter if they were coming from the beach. The ground floor boasts a long table with chairs assembled around it, facing the sea. You can literally sit on the chair and eat while facing the waters. _Wow, what a view._

A staircase greets immediately upon entering the single room at the ground floor of the house. On the second floor were two rooms, one of it was a medium-sized bathroom. They opened the other room to see a single king-sized bed and a futon on the floor beside it.

Soonyoung and Wonwoo deadpans at Chan who sheepishly looked at them with an embarrassed smile, before shrugging his shoulders and flinging his body on the bed, leaving his bags on the ground.

“Don't be such a party pooper guys, it's a pretty house!

Wonwoo sighs at Chan as he places his bag on the floor, sitting on the edge of the bed. “We're not complaining about the house Chan.”

“Yeah,” Soonyoung immediately interjects as he sits down beside Wonwoo. “We're complaining about the bed. We're big ass college boys Chan. We won't fit.”

“Psh, party poopers!” Chan exclaims, wiggling around the bed. “We shared a bed before, what difference does it make now?”

“We were ten.”

Wonwoo exhales a deep sigh as he tunes out Chan and Soonyoung's bickering, standing up before walking out of the room, down the staircase out towards the free space of the first floor.

He sits by the ledge just a few meters away from the long table, overlooking the sea before him. He heaves his legs up, tucks them near his chest and places his chin on top of his knees, wrapping his arms around his legs to balance himself. This trip was supposedly meant for them to relax, to have temporary peace in their minds, to finally talk everything out; but it seems that at every turning point, at every breathing second that Wonwoo is near Soonyoung, he gets stressed out.

Things weren't always as hard as Wonwoo thought them to be. They don't have any sappy love story of childhood friends being forced to leave one another, them against the world; no, not really. It's simply him confessing to Soonyoung, and having a good friendship, _relationship?_ going on, before Soonyoung disappears for a few months, reappearing only to tell Wonwoo that he doesn't want whatever they had.

_What the fuck._

Wonwoo remembers standing in front of a reluctant Soonyoung who's eyes avoid looking at his, in disbelief at hearing the words _I don't want whatever this is anymore._ He remembers trying to come near Soonyoung, to try and make sense of everything, only to see him shake his head before running out.

To Wonwoo, it was valid that he was trying to distance himself from his group of friends. After the whole fiasco, Soonyoung went back to how things were before, as if what he had with Wonwoo was nothing. It pissed him off and got him feeling so bitter that Wonwoo avoided any physical contact with either Soonyoung or Chan. Wonwoo even thought that he was doing great, seeing that he was semi-successful in avoiding them for almost a year, sans the times that Chan will barge in the café during his work hours just to piss him off.

Chan is probably aware of what happened, even if either Wonwoo or Soonyoung wasn't telling him anything. He was acting like a middle man, and Wonwoo hated it, but Chan apparently liked it. Hence why he decided to set up this travel get together, _and I got fooled into this anyway._

“A penny for your thoughts?”

“I'd be rich by now if I told you everything that's on my head.”

Soonyoung snorts at Wonwoo's answer as he brings his body up the ledge, sitting beside Wonwoo with his feet dangling beneath them.

“Are you still mad?”

“About what?”

Soonyoung sighs, before shuffling a bit closer to Wonwoo. He responds to the action and the question by angling his body a little bit away from Soonyoung, trying to discreetly do it to no avail. He tries to keep his eyes on the sea, tries focus on the picture-perfect waves that were in front of him instead of Soonyoung's presence. Wonwoo misses the hurt that flashed in Soonyoung's eyes.

“Back there, I was really careless. I'm sorry.”

“Yeah I know. Anyone can see that.” Soonyoung cringes at Wonwoo's answer and even if Wonwoo noticed it, he says nothing to retract his words.

“But it was nice though.”

“Nice? What part of it was nice?”

“You, caring for me. I missed that.”

Soonyoung's words drew Wonwoo's focus away from the sea and towards to his face, only to see Soonyoung staring intently into his eyes. He feels himself locking gazes with Soonyoung, a pool of emotions sitting heavily in his chest. Words were at the tip of his tongue, and Wonwoo is afraid, so afraid that if he were to tell them, things would go back to how badly broken they were before, and how they tried to mend it up with the pieces of the friendship.

Wonwoo tears his gaze away from Soonyoung, forcing himself to stand up, dusting the imaginary dust on his jeans before walking towards the sand. He pretends not to hear Soonyoung calling for him, Wonwoo pretends not hearing Soonyoung's words. _I'm sorry._

 

/

 

Wonwoo rubs the area between his eyes, careful not to rub them as he's wearing his contact lens. He's quickly regretting his decision, seeing that his eyes get dry quickly. He's already feeling the telltale signs of a migraine coming from the events that has happened at that day. _What the fuck, it's only the first day._

After staying by the sand for a few minutes, Wonwoo ignores the pain in his chest as he looks back to see Soonyoung gone. He waits for a few minutes before deciding on going back to their room upstairs. Upon entering the room, he sees Chan lounging around on the bed with his head on top of Soonyoung's lap, with Soonyoung busy looking through his phone.

“Hey Won. Wanna head out?” Chan asks as he stares at the ceiling instead of looking at Wonwoo.

“Out where?”

“I don't know, just out. See what's around us I guess.” A _no thanks_ was almost at the tip of Wonwoo's tongue as his answer, before Soonyoung cuts him off, with a tone too soft, uncharacteristically. “I'm in.”

“Cool!” Chan says as he jumps up, walking out of the door with a tight grip on Wonwoo's arm. “Let's go!”

Wonwoo was tired, grumpy, and his eyes hurt, but he finds himself unable to say no to the things around him recently.

“Feeling not comfy Won?” Chan asks, placing an arm around Wonwoo's shoulders as they continued walking around the beach. He gives him a weak smile and a shrug. “It's fine. My lens are just acting up.”

“Why won't you wear your glasses then?” Chan asks, as he walks beside Wonwoo, Soonyoung a step behind them. “You know I don't like going out with my glasses Chan. I feel ugly.”

“But you're not?” Soonyoung interjects, completely stopping Wonwoo and Chan from their movement as he falls a step beside them. “You look fine Wonwoo.” Soonyoung continues, staring directly at Wonwoo's eyes before he takes a step and starts to walk ahead of them.

Chan waits for a few minutes as Wonwoo stares at Soonyoung's back. “I'm not gonna play dumb, but something happened, right?”

“No, nothing happened.” Wonwoo quickly says as he suddenly walked ahead of Chan, forcing him to catch up. Chan places his arm yet again around Wonwoo's shoulder in a tight hold, locking him in place. He steals a glance ahead of them to see if Soonyoung is still a few meters ahead of them. “Stop playing dumb Won. I know something happened.”

“I've always been an antisocial emo boy Chan.” He says sarcastically. “So I'll always be awkward around anyone.”

Chan rolls his eyes at Wonwoo's statement. “That's just plain bullshit. You weren't an awkward potato when you and Soonyoung were still openly pining at one another months back.”

“Can we just—” Wonwoo says with a sigh as he stops walking, Chan stopping as well. “let's just drop the whole Soonyoung thing, please. I came here to have a good time and to relax and you mentioning Soonyoung at every breathing second is making it worse.” Wonwoo wants to hit himself in the head. _Lies, all lies._

Apparently, Chan was a step ahead as he hits Wonwoo on the head, none too gently.

“Ouch, what the fuck?!”

“Stop lying Wonwoo.” Chan says as he rolls his eyes. “You, coming here to relax? You almost said yes in a heartbeat when I told you that Soonyoung was coming. I saw you Wonwoo. I was watching you.”

“What do you want me to say then?!” Wonwoo exclaims, exasperated. “That I came here to see him?”

“No, that you came here to give yourselves another chance.”

“That's just bullshit Chan and you know that. What's done is done. Soonyoung ended it with me before we even started. It's done Chan, it's over.”

Chan deeply sighs at Wonwoo's insistence, hard eyes set into staring down at Wonwoo. “Have you even asked Soonyoung why?” He raises a hand to silence Wonwoo as he sees him opening his mouth to retort back. “No right? Then why won't you give him a chance? Give yourself a chance?”

Wonwoo stares at Chan, breathing heavily as if talking about Soonyoung is giving him a hard time to breathe. He tears his eyes away from Chan, his eyebrows scrunched together in pure unhidden desperation as he watches Soonyoung's form going further away just a few meters ahead of him.

“What if he runs away from me again?”

Chan places himself in front of Wonwoo, completely blocking his view of Soonyoung.

“At this rate, you're already letting him go away again.”

 

/

 

“Pizza's here!” Chan screams upon hearing the knock on the door, flinging his body to run downstairs to retrieve their ordered pizza.

“Does he even have money to pay for that?” Soonyoung jokes as Wonwoo shrugs at his comment with a laugh. “Let Chan live even for once.”

“I'm not Kwon Soonyoung if I do that.” Both boys laugh at the statement, shoulders shaking in laughter as they leaned against the headboard of the bed. Even with the king size of the bed, little space was left between Soonyoung and Wonwoo. They will both make excuses that it's for warmth, and that they were too lazy to move from their comfortable position in the bed.

As the sunset followed their footsteps, a mutual decision was made that after their long walk from the beach, they'll go back to the beach house instead of eating out to save expenses, and that they'll just order in pizza instead.

 

_“Do you even know the pizza delivery number here in Busan, Chan?”_

_“Hmm our favorite pizza place back in Seoul probably delivers all the way to Busan, right? Problem solved!”_

_“... really now? Channie?”_

 

At the end after rummaging around the house, they found out that the owners were kind enough to leave a list of contact numbers of restaurants from which they can order in whenever they want to, granted that they just need to clean up their mess afterwards.

Chan made the call while perched on the futon beside the bed, with Soonyoung lounging on the bed, his eyes glued to his phone yet again. After finally removing his contact lens and putting on his glasses in exchange for it, Wonwoo looked around the room and with a stroke of luck, found the door of a cabinet that opens up to reveal a flat screen TV along with its remote control.

Wonwoo grabs the remote control, pressing the on button with excitement on the prospect of changing channels to see if something interesting was on the TV, before turning around and stopping in his tracks, suddenly hesitant on where he would sit. He found his eyes moving over to Soonyoung, and quickly shrugs off his hesitancy with a huff as he decides to sit beside Soonyoung; a little too close, but Wonwoo hopes not too close that Soonyoung may hear the erratic beating of his heart.

_This is okay, this is nothing. I'm just sitting beside him._

“Comfy?” Wonwoo asks with his eyes not looking at Soonyoung's in embarrassment, as he shuffles himself a little bit to properly lean his back on the headboard of the bed, effectively making Soonyoung also move a bit with his actions. “Sorry I keep on moving.”

“It's fine.” Soonyoung says with a shrug as he puts down his phone to pay attention to Wonwoo, making him stare back at Soonyoung too. “I like the warmth anyways.”

If Soonyoung notices Wonwoo's cheeks turning a light shade of red at his words, he doesn't tell him.

“Pizza! Pizza! Pizza!” Chan announces, bringing the both of them back to reality, away from their trances. He places the big pizza box in the middle of the bed as Wonwoo and Soonyoung moves to make space. Chan sits on the foot of the bed, quickly opening the box of pepperoni pizza before quickly taking a slice.

“What were you guys watching?”

“I don't know, some historical movie, I think.” Wonwoo doesn't know, he wasn't paying attention, too busy trying to force himself to calm down in Soonyoung's presence.

“Yoo Seungho is there, I think.” Soonyoung says, with half a pizza slice already shoved in his mind. Wonwoo stares at him in disbelief as he snatches a tissue from the packaging that came with the pizza, quickly wiping Soonyoung's lips with it. “Chew with your mouth closed Soon. You look gross.” Wonwoo grumbles, chucking the tissue at Soonyoung's face afterwards.

Soonyoung laughs out loud, before using the tissue to properly wipe the sauce away from his mouth. “Thanks Won! You're the best!”

Wonwoo grumbles in embarrassment, eyes avoiding Soonyoung only to catch Chan's, who was raising an eyebrow at him as if to say _really, that's your move?_ Wonwoo huffs at Chan, before grabbing a pizza slice for himself to quickly shut down the issue.

Wonwoo berates himself for quickly falling into the pattern that he got used in doing. Just a day with Soonyoung and his body already familiarized itself to how they were, before their months away from each other had happened. Constant hugs, lingering touches, sunny smiles; Wonwoo found himself doing these again around Soonyoung even if he told himself not to act like how things were before, for his sanity's sake.

It seems that even unconsciously, Wonwoo is drawn to Soonyoung whether he likes it or not.

_What is wrong with me._

 

/

 

Wonwoo slowly wakes up to the sunlight softly shining through the curtains, the light sea breeze distinguishable with its scent, and the soft bed sheets underneath him providing comfort to his body. He doesn't open his eyes yet, too comfortable with the idea of staying in bed for a little while longer.

Maybe he was too comfortable, too used to the feeling that for a second he misses the mop of black hair perched on top of his chest, face squished sideways to reveal a soft fluffy cheek. When he realizes the weight on his chest, he opens his eyes only to see Soonyoung in deep sleep on top of him, his head perched near his neck. He can feel Soonyoung's soft exhales on his skin, and he realizes that he has an arm around Soonyoung's waist, effectively caging him in.

Wonwoo doesn't go rigid, no; but his breath did stutter at the sight of Soonyoung peacefully sleeping on top of him, his face stress free from the issues that life has thrown at them. He brings a hand to slowly card his fingers through Soonyoung's hair, softly carding them to the side to reveal his forehead. Wonwoo stares, he contemplates on his urge on whether to leave a kiss on Soonyoung's forehead, a sign of unburdened affection.

If you'll ask Wonwoo, not much has happened between them; just that they have avoided each other for so long that it feels almost impossible to bring back the comfort that they had with one another before. Wonwoo is not a liar, he knows with himself that's he's so afraid, that if they'll talk over things, the carefully structured messy wall in between them will fall with just one flick of a finger. They're already awkward with one another, Wonwoo doesn't want things to go worse from there.

But people do say that communication is always the key. Nothing will go wrong if they try to have a talk, right? _Right?_

He takes a deep breath to calm himself down, before gently shaking Soonyoung awake, soft fingers carding through his hair as the hand that he has on his waist gently shakes him awake.

“Soonyoung, Soonyoung. Hey, wake up.” Wonwoo softly says.

Wonwoo watches as Soonyoung's eyes slowly flutter open, blinking a few times before slowly stretching his body, very carefully as so not to jostle Wonwoo so much. Wonwoo watches as Soonyoung takes his time stretching his bones, face almost still squished in Wonwoo's chest. He doesn't say anything, but Wonwoo knows that with Soonyoung's careful measured breaths, he was reluctant to leave the comfort that Wonwoo had given him.

“Hey, is your arm alive?” Soonyoung asks softly as he sits up, Wonwoo following him. Wonwoo shrugs, stretching his arm a bit. “Naah, I'm good.”

Soonyoung exhales a laugh, as he stands up to fully stretch his body upwards and side by side. Wonwoo watches him from the bed without words permeating through the air between them. It wasn't awkward, but it was too comfortable.

Wonwoo breaks the silence with the question, “What time is it?” towards Soonyoung. He shrugs at first before quickly picking up the phone on the nightstand. “Wow, we slept until 2pm?”

Wonwoo furrows his eyebrows in disbelief, quickly picking up his phone from under the pillow before seeing for himself that yes, it really was 2pm already. “Chan didn't wake us up? Where is he even right now?” He mutters as he flings off the thin blanket off him, walking towards the open window to see Chan playing with some kids by the waters, probably already tanned from playing too much at early in the afternoon.

“Chan, really…” Wonwoo mutters under his breath as he watches Chan play at the beach, feeling Soonyoung's presence getting nearer towards him. Soonyoung takes a seat sideways by the window ledge, half of his body facing outside the window while half of his body facing Wonwoo's.

Wonwoo doesn't move from his position, with his arms near Soonyoung's calves, near Soonyoung's hands who had them around his legs. He allows himself to get lost in the comfortable ocean breeze before them, getting lost with the view they're looking at.

“Hey Wonwoo.” Soonyoung softly says, careful as so he won't break the comfortable silence that they had between them. Wonwoo directs his gaze towards Soonyoung who already had his eyes on him, only waiting for Wonwoo to finally look at him.

“Do you think we should talk, now?”

Wonwoo's eyes fall from staring into Soonyoung's, an exhale falling from his lips as he took a step back away from the window, away from Soonyoung.

“I'll go see what Chan is up to.”

Wonwoo feels Soonyoung's stare even with his back on him as he walks out of the room, heart threatening to beat out of his chest.

_I'm such a coward._

 

/

 

With the ocean breeze gently moving around them, the sun's rays at five o’clock late in the afternoon softly kissing his skin, and the light laughter of the people around him ringing in his ears, Wonwoo supposes that this should be his ideal perfect vacation. But everyone else around him is just blurred out in his mind as he watches Soonyoung play in the water along with some local kids that he befriended earlier.

He knew that what he did was wrong, Wonwoo knew that Soonyoung was trying to make an opening for them to finally talk everything out but he just had to be a coward and to run away from him. Wonwoo berates himself for his cowardice. Before, Soonyoung ran away and Wonwoo had accepted his mistake of never trying hard enough to reach out; but now that Soonyoung's back and he's the trying to reach out to him, Wonwoo chooses to run away. It's like they're in an endless cycle of cowardice, and Wonwoo knows in himself that the only way for it to stop was for them to finally talk to one another.

As Wonwoo got down out on the open beach earlier, he was met with Chan's disappointed look. Apparently, he saw them by the window, and even without listening to the words spoken by Soonyoung and Wonwoo, Chan knew that Soonyoung was trying to make amends already, if not for Wonwoo backing out suddenly.

 

_“Look Chan, I'm sorry. It's just that—”_

_“No, Wonwoo. If you keep on running away, there's no guarantee that he'll wait on you forever. Just because you waited for him before doesn't mean that he'll wait for you too.”_

 

Chan's words rang mercilessly in Wonwoo's mind, that if he doesn't act on it, he might not just lose a friend in Soonyoung but the entirety of him instead. Wonwoo knows in himself; he should do it, he has to talk with Soonyoung. He just has to find the courage to do so.

“Something on your mind?”

Wonwoo whips up his head, surprised at the sudden presence of Soonyoung in front of him. He had to crouch down a bit to meet Wonwoo's level as he was sitting on a beach chair, but it didn't stop Soonyoung from leveling down his body to Wonwoo's, face etched in concern. “You looked like you were in deep thought. You okay?”

Soonyoung isn't a sun kissed Adonis that came out of a comic book, he is Wonwoo's Soonyoung, the boy with chubby cheeks, firm body, a soft heart; and upon looking into his eyes filled with concern for Wonwoo, he realizes that he has nothing to be afraid of. He is Wonwoo's Soonyoung. He may lose the possibility of having a lover after they talk things out, but he will always have Soonyoung as his friend.

Warmth filled Wonwoo upon his realization, as he looks up at Soonyoung with a smile etched on his face. “Nope, I'm good.”

Soonyoung raises an eyebrow at this, clearly not believing Wonwoo's words. “Sure Won, whatever you say.”

Wonwoo watches as Soonyoung sits beside him, pulling his shirt away from his body to avoid it sticking on his chest. “I shouldn't have played in the waters with a shirt on, now I'm going to be as tanned as Chan when we were eight.”

“Chan was like an overcooked barbecue back then.”

“Exactly.”

Laughter filled the air at their words as Wonwoo found himself staring at Soonyoung's face that has contorted itself into a laugh. It's an ugly expression if you ask Wonwoo, but he loves it. _I love him._

“Hey Soon.”

“Yeah?”

“Why didn't you try dating Chan, when we were younger?”

Soonyoung made a face as he stared at the waters before them, and if the topic wasn't serious, Wonwoo would have laughed out loud. But as Wonwoo asked the question with genuine curiosity, Soonyoung answered him honestly. “I never really thought of him that way.

“Why?”

“Because well, you know.” Soonyoung paused as a small smile made its way to his face, before he turned sideways to look at Wonwoo in the eye as he uttered his next words. “I only liked you, since way back then.”

He didn't know that he was holding his breath until he exhaled at Soonyoung's words. Wonwoo willed himself not to break the eye contact, as he smiled at Soonyoung, as if to thank him at his honesty.

“Did you know that I tried to date someone during around that time that we weren't taking with each other?”

“Yeah, I heard from Chan. What was his name again?”

“Kim Mingyu. And of course, it didn't work out.”

“Why not? If it's okay to ask, that is.”

Wonwoo broke the eye contact as he drops his gaze towards the sand beneath his toes, suddenly embarrassed at the words that were at the tip of his tongue. If Soonyoung answered him with honesty, then he should too.

“I still kept thinking about you.”

He heard Soonyoung's deep inhale at his words, as if he can't believe that Wonwoo hasn't forgotten them in the one year that they have skirted around each other. Wonwoo chanced a peek at Soonyoung to see him flashing a bright smile towards him, before suddenly standing up, pulling Wonwoo up to a stand.

“Wait, wha—”

“Come on, we're playing in the waters.”

“But I don't want to remove my glasses— I can't see shit— Soonyoung— I'm fucking blind without them wait—”

Wonwoo flails as he tries to wrestle himself free, only to stop when Soonyoung suddenly places a hand on his cheek, the other gently removing the glasses that was perched on Wonwoo's face. “Come on, don't be afraid. I'll hold you.”

The next thing Wonwoo knows is that Soonyoung is throwing him in the waters, resurfacing in the next second with Soonyoung's laughter to accompany him. He deadpans at Soonyoung's amused smile, who sheepishly shrugs at him when Wonwoo tries to glare at him.

“I'm sorry Won.” He says with an embarrassed giggle, as he brings his arms around Wonwoo's neck to suddenly drop a kiss on his cheek. Wonwoo feels his face burning at the action, his arms unconsciously wrapping themselves around Soonyoung's waist underwater. At the contact, he forgets the reason why he was glaring at Soonyoung in the first place.

“I'm sorry, for suddenly leaving you months back.” Soonyoung says softly, eyes staring straight into Wonwoo's. The distance between them hasn't changed, and his words only made Wonwoo's arms tighten around him.

“Why did you leave back then?”

“Because I'm an idiot.”

“You always were one.”

Soonyoung rolls his eyes at him as Wonwoo grins at his reaction. Soonyoung chooses this moment to pull Wonwoo closer into a tight hug, burying his face into Wonwoo's neck. “I was afraid that if things don't work out between us, we might lose everything, even our friendship.”

Wonwoo slowly rocks them side to side along with the waves around them, breathing deeply before placing a chaste kiss onto Soonyoung's hair. Soonyoung's an idiot, he was an idiot, they were both idiots.

“We can't predict the future Soon.” Wonwoo says as he breaks the hug to stare Soonyoung right in his eyes. “But the only thing that I can promise you is that even if things don't work out the way we want them to be, you'll always have me; like how I know and believe that I’ll always have you too.”

Soonyoung smiles along with Wonwoo at the words uttered between them, bringing their foreheads together. “I love you Wonwoo. And I'm really sorry.”

Wonwoo gently laughs in glee at the confession, before placing a soft chaste kiss on Soonyoung's lips. “I love you Soonyoung, and let's not be idiots anymore.” He hears Soonyoung laugh at his choice of words, before closing the distance between them again by placing his lips on Soonyoung's once more.

 

/

 

Wonwoo wakes up the next morning with a cramp on his leg and with the bedsheets sticking on his body like a second skin from the sudden humid air; but he doesn't find it in himself to complain, smiling as he sees a sleeping Soonyoung wrapped around him in a bear hug, eyes tightly closed in his sleep with his snoring mouth half open and his cheek squished on top of Wonwoo's chest.

_We've been idiots for so long, but at least we have each other now._

**Author's Note:**

> • I'm just happy to have finally contributed something in the soonwoo tag!
> 
> • comments are highly appreciated! please help me improve in my writing!


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